


Making Memories

by PressPack



Series: High School Musical [2]
Category: Women's Soccer RPF
Genre: F/F, just a whole lot of fluff
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-05-22
Updated: 2020-05-23
Packaged: 2021-03-02 23:14:04
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 8,280
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24324844
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PressPack/pseuds/PressPack
Summary: A selection of one-shots in the HSM AU.-You don't have to read the original fic to read these, but they'll make a lot more sense if you do.
Relationships: Tobin Heath/Christen Press
Series: High School Musical [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1756111
Comments: 13
Kudos: 67





	Making Memories

**Author's Note:**

> A chapter filled with short snapshots of Tobin and Christen in quarantine (the HSM style).  
> -  
> So this doesn't fit into the timeline at all, but if Covid-19 would have happened in this universe, this is what it would have been like.

“It’s crazy that it’s come to this.” Christen says as she packs up all the papers she still has on her desk. “I knew it was going to be bad, but I didn’t expect this.” 

Julie turns around to face Christen, pausing what she is doing. “I know, me too.” 

“Global pandemic.” Alex says in slight disbelief, “How long do you think we’ll be out of schools?” 

“I wish I knew.” Christen sighs, “Hopefully not too long.”

“I have a bad feeling that it’s going to be a while.” Julie says seriously.

“Yeah, I do too.” Christen replies, before a smirk makes its way onto her face. “Hey,” She wiggles her finger to point at them both, “Don’t you two be getting pregnant during all of this. I’ll need you guys afterwards.”

Alex throws her hands up and Julie just tilts her head, “I’m just saying,” Christen shrugs, “We all know how it goes.”

“How what goes?” Alex laughs. 

“Virus, pandemic, quarantine and then all of the sudden there’s a baby boom nine months later.” Christen gives them a pointed look. “I’m all for you both starting a family and getting pregnant, but at least warn me so I can prepare in advance.” 

“Who’s pregnant?” Tobin wonders as she walks into the office to collect the remainder of her stuff as well. 

Julie laughs, “No one.” 

“Christen just gave us the ‘don’t get pregnant during quarantine’ talk.” Alex says, turning back to her desk. 

“Same goes for you, Chris.” Alex turns back around to tease her friend, “Don’t you be getting knocked up during quarantine. We need our boss.” 

Christen turns around to Alex with an unamused look on her face, “Very funny.” 

Alex laughs to herself as Julie chuckles from her desk. 

“I mean I’m good...but I’m not  _ that  _ good.” Tobin nudges Christen with a teasing smirk. 

Alex raises her eyebrows, “Oh  _ really _ ?”

Tobin opens her mouth to start speaking, probably about to leave one of her go-to comebacks, but can’t get more than a letter out before Christen’s arm is wrapped around her - her right hand covering Tobin’s mouth to stop her from taking this even further. 

“If you know what’s good for you, you won’t continue this conversation.” Tobin gulps, sighing. She mumbles something into Christen’s hand, which no one understands but sounds an awful lot like ‘Okay, fine’. 

Tobin gives Christen a pleading look, making Christen drop her hand.

She goes back to tidying her desk up, placing the remaining papers in her bag and closing it, when she hears a familiar voice shout down the hall. 

“Guess who,” Kelley shouts from around the corner, making her way into the office. 

“Hm I don’t know Kelley, I definitely couldn’t tell by your voice.” Julie comments. 

“I’ll work on it,” Kelley sighs in defeat before pepping up again. “I just came to say that I’ll miss annoying you all.”

“Thanks Kel,” Christen laughs, “We appreciate that a lot.”

Tobin nods, “Oh, for sure. We don’t know what we’d do without you.” She says sarcastically. 

“No need to be sarcastic about it, Tobito.”

“Who even started this whole ‘Tobito’ thing?” Alex asks, not remembering a time where she didn’t tease Tobin by calling her that. 

Tobin points at Kelley, “This one.” 

Kelley shrugs, “It just makes sense. Tobin, Tobs, Toby, Tobito…” She says in deep thought. 

“Toby?” Julie asks with a teasing smile. 

“My brother calls me that sometimes,” She says with a groan, “I hate it but he used to call me that before he could say Tobin so he loves to tease me with it” 

“That’s cute,” Alex smiles kindly, “Who calls you Tobs?”

“My sisters, my parents…” She shrugs before pointing in Christen’s direction, “Chris.”

Julie gives them both a soft smile. “Have you got any nieces or nephews?” 

Tobin nods, “A niece and two nephews.”

“How old are they?” Julie asks with an excited voice. 

“Ellie just turned four, Kayden’s a few months older than her and Cole is seven.”

“Do they call you Toby?” Kelley wonders, thinking about the picture Christen showed her of her and Tobin with Tobin’s niece and nephews.

“They call her Aunty Toto,” Christen speaks up, smiling as soon as she thinks about the family. 

“That’s adorable!” Alex gushes. 

“What do they call you?” Julie asks Christen, “I’m assuming you’ve met them and Christen isn’t exactly the easiest name to pronounce at such a young age.”

“I have met them.” Christen confirms, before Tobin takes over.

“I don’t even think they tried saying Christen.” Tobin laughs, “They just started calling her Aunty Chrissy the first time they stayed with us so it just kinda became a thing and they’ve stuck with it ever since.” 

Alex gives Christen a bright smile and a subtle wink when they make eye contact, feeling grateful that her friend has finally found the happiness she deserves. 

“They’re the cutest.” Christen says, biting her bottom lip. 

“Well, I love you all, but I’ve got to get going.” Kelley chips in.

Tobin gives Kelley a quick hug after Christen, “Where are you staying?” 

“I’m flying out to do DC tonight, whilst I still can.” Kelley explains.

“Are you staying with Emily during quarantine?” Christen asks and Kelley nods in confirmation. 

She waves at the group, turning around to leave the office again just as Alex throws a comment at her. “Don’t get pregnant.” 

“What?” Kelley’s brows furrow as the group starts laughing. 

“Just walk away and ignore her.” Christen says. 

\-------

Tobin and Christen are sitting side-by-side on the couch, a blanket draped over their legs and thighs pressed against each other as they both rest their laptops on their knees - trying to get some work done. Occasionally Tobin will turn her head, placing a light kiss on Christen’s temple; or Christen will run her hand through Tobin’s hair that’s resting over her shoulder, still slightly damp from her shower. 

Christen shuts her laptop, placing it on the coffee table that their feet are resting on, when she sees that it’s already midday. She leans back into the couch with a sigh, running through a list in her head of all the things they could have for lunch. 

“This turns out to be a lot more stressful than I expected.” She admits, honestly. To her it feels like she hasn’t stopped working since they stopped working at school, and it’s only the first week. 

Tobin hums in agreement, closing her laptop and placing it next to Christen’s. “I have an online meeting with the crew tomorrow.” 

For the first few months, Tobin had started by running most of the curriculum courses just to get them started and to sort out any try-outs so she could structure the teams. She’d started looking for coaches for most of them not long after, wanting to give all of the teams someone who could dedicate their time to them. After not much convincing from Christen, Tobin decided to stay with the girls varsity soccer team, taking over their coaching role. 

Today, she’d set her goal to finish the first set of home training plans for the team, whilst also ensuring that all of the other coaches were happy to do so. She planned to hold a meeting with them all the following day, wanting to check in on how they were doing and put some plans or activities together to keep the athletes training and working together at home. 

Tobin drops her head down onto Christen’s shoulder, “I’m exhausted.”

“Me too, baby. I feel like I have so much to do.” She chuckles dryly, “I shouldn’t complain though. I’m home and healthy and so are you, so that’s all that matters to me.” 

Tobin lifts her head, leaving a kiss on Christen’s shoulder and laying her head back down. Christen moves her arm around Tobin, pulling her in tighter so Tobin’s head can rest on her chest, and adjusting the way they’re sitting so she won’t feel like her back is broken when she gets up. 

“What should we make for lunch?” Christen asks through a yawn. 

“I don’t know, babe. Let’s just cuddle for five minutes and then we can decide.” Tobin requested, closing her eyes as she snuggled further into Christen.

“Okay, let’s do that.” Christen agreed, leaning forwards to kiss Tobin’s hair.

An hour later, Tobin’s eyes slowly flutter open when the sun shines through the window from an angle, directly hitting her face. She stirs slightly, stilling again when she notices her position. 

_ We must have both fallen asleep,  _ she realises once she’s fully awake. They’d adjusted their position, now laying down more comfortably with Tobin clinging onto Christen from the side. Her left leg is tangled in between Christen’s, who’s lying comfortably on her back with her left arm wrapped tightly around Tobin, stopping her from moving too close to the edge of the couch. 

Tobin lifts her head, admiring Christen’s beauty as the sunlight makes Christen’s beautiful skin tone glow. The older girl loves watching Christen sleep - seeing how peaceful and calm she is, as if nothing in the world could hurt her. She takes in every feature of her girlfriend’s face, smiling to herself as she does so. 

She leans forwards slowly, making sure not to wake the girl through any sudden movements. Tobin places the lightest kiss on her cheek, whispering to Christen as she pulls away again. “I love you so much.”

When she’s sure that Christen is still in deep sleep, she slowly lifts herself off the couch. She stands up, reaching for the blanket that had fallen off the end earlier, carefully draping it over Christen’s body. 

Tobin walks out of the room, not fully closing the door but only leaving a small gap between the door and its frame. She heads towards the kitchen, preparing some sandwiches for both of them since they’d accidentally skipped lunch earlier. 

Ten minutes later, Tobin returns to find Christen in the same position she’d left her in. As much as she wants to let Christen sleep so she could get some rest - Tobin knew it would mess with her sleep pattern and she wasn’t about to sleep in a cold bed tonight just because Christen would find something to do around the house instead of sleeping. 

“Babe,” Tobin whispers softly, running a hand through Christen’s hair. When she gets no response, she nudges her lightly. “Babe, wake up."

Christen lets out a groan of annoyance, clearly having just been pulled out of a deep sleep that she would have been more than happy to stay in. She opens her eyes slowly, adjusting to the light. 

“You’re beautiful,” Tobin speaks in a quiet voice, not being able to help herself from admiring her girlfriend once again. Christen smiles almost shyly from her sleepy state, sitting up and rubbing her eyes. 

“Here.” Tobin says as she passes Christen a glass of water before swapping it for the plate. “We both fell asleep and missed lunch.” She explains once she’s clear that Christen is still trying to wake up. 

“Thanks, baby.” She reaches out for the plate, smiling softly at Tobin. 

Tobin sits down next to her, reaching for the remote. 

“If we don’t stop watching Grey’s Anatomy, we’ll make it through all sixteen seasons within the first week.” Christen laughs.

“Oh, let’s bet on it.” Tobin says with a smirk, turning towards Christen. 

Christen looks at her cautiously, “What are we betting on?” 

“You pick first.” Tobin demands. 

“Um, if we finish Grey’s by the end of next week, then I get to pick the next show we watch.” Christen states, knowing very well that Tobin loves picking new shows for them - not that Christen really minds. She’ll always take Christen’s input and they won’t watch something that Christen wouldn’t want to, but she always finds it amusing how excited Tobin gets when she’s looking for a new show. 

“Okay, fine.” Tobin says jokingly, acting upset. “If it takes us over two weeks to finish it, then you have to do whatever I want...in bed.” 

Christen laughs at her girlfriend, “You say that as if we haven’t been having sex almost every day for the past week.” 

“It won’t be too bad when you lose then, will it?” Tobin challenged. 

“I never lose,” Christen says as she pecks Tobin’s lips, “But I think we could change the rules and cash that bet in either way.” 

Tobin smirks to herself, putting her plate in her lap and pressing play on their most recent episode. 

\-------

Tobin’s meeting goes as smooth as ever, her friendly and funny personality always being able to talk to the group with ease. They always respect and follow her decisions, but she still takes their input and opinions and uses them when coming to decisions - which is one of the main reasons she has such a great relationship with all of them. 

Always having Christen with her helps too. It gives her the ideal person to go to if she needs a final opinion, has an idea to propose to the team or suggestions that randomly came to her mind. Christen never thinks twice before agreeing to read over an email or letter for Tobin, when double checking who made the varsity teams or when selecting coaches for the different sports. Christen had also helped her write out scholarship applications and letters of recommendations for the varsity teams, creating and editing drafts together. 

And just like that, Tobin does the same for Christen. 

She’ll go through presentations prior to meetings, help Christen prepare for anything as much as she can if she has no work to do that day, offer new ideas or approaches to Christen that she’d picked up from her old school, and stay up late at night with her to offer support if she was preparing for a meeting the next day.

When she comes to think of it, she couldn’t be more thankful to have such an amazing person in her life. They balance each other out seamlessly and work together so smoothly that you’d think they’d been doing it their whole lives. The world  _ soulmate  _ comes to her mind every time she thinks about the younger girl - a word that had always seemed terrifying and impossible, until she met Christen. 

Christen finishes up her meeting with all of the department leaders and Kristie not much later. Usually Tobin would be included in these meetings as she was the leader in extracurricular, but she’d still been occupied by the other meeting, so Kristie simply requested that Christen fills her in on any important information that applies to her role. Most of it wouldn’t apply to her anyway, as she’s simply organizing other ways to keep in contact with her athletes and the attendance isn’t needed as much as the standard compulsory courses.

“Zoom lessons.” Christen chuckles as she sits down next to Tobin on their balcony. 

They make eye contact and instantly start laughing, thinking about how strange the whole situation is and how unfamiliar it will be for them to teach through a computer screen instead of in person. 

“How are you going to teach PE through Zoom?” Tobin wonders.

“I’m only going to do a lesson once a week and we’ll just work through some theory or do a quiz or something like that, just so they have their attendance for the subject.” 

Tobin nods, “We’re planning to do a workout session two days a week and then a quiz or just team catch up and bonding once a week.”

“That’s a good idea,” Christen nods, “Then at least they’ll all stay connected and still talk to each other and you.” 

“They might be less excited about having me there than seeing each other, Chris.” Tobin chuckles. 

“The team loves you,” Christen shakes her head, “Incase you didn’t know, it’s kind of impossible not to love you.” 

Tobin smiles softly at her, letting Christen continue. “I’m totally joining in on the workout sessions though.”

“Really?” Tobin asks, unsure if Christen is being sarcastic or not. Her and Christen usually go to the gym together once a week, but Christen much preferred her daily yoga morning routine. She knows Christen enjoys working out and still had the fitness to, being used to years of intense training for varsity and division one soccer, but these days Christen always liked calmer or less intense exercises. 

One thing the younger girl hadn’t lost since quitting soccer was her running speed. Tobin had agreed to go running with her more than a few times, now making it a regular occurrence on weekends when they wanted to burn some energy by going for a run along the beach. The first time that Christen had suggested they go on a run, Tobin was in no way prepared for having to keep up with Christen the whole time. She found herself begging the girl to slow down multiple times, instantly regretting that she’d agreed to join her and stating that she’d never do it again. 

This didn’t last very long due to Tobin’s lack of ability to turn Christen down when she’d begged Tobin to come on another run with her the week after.

“Totally!” Christen nods. “The gyms are all closed and I need to get some sort of fitness in, otherwise I’ll be driving myself up the walls.”

“Are you sure that’s ok?” Tobin wonders, unsure about where the boundaries are between the team and her personal life. She knows that the way she treats the team and they treat her isn’t like a teacher, but more like a coach. Still, she wanted to make sure that Christen would be comfortable with this too. “I mean since we’ll be on it at the same time in the same place?”

Christen considers Tobin’s point for a short moment before smiling at her and nodding, “If it’s okay with you, then yes. They’re all teenagers and old enough to figure the fact that we’re together out for themselves.” She explains, “They probably know already as I’m at their soccer practises half the time anyway and it’s not like I have to be there.” 

Tobin thinks about it, nodding in agreement when she considers Christen’s point and realizes the truth it holds.

“They’re a great group and mature, baby. I doubt they’d even say anything.” Christen continues, “Let’s not forget the fact that they call you by your first name anyway, so you can’t get much personal with them anyway.”

“True.” Tobin laughs with a shrug. “Okay, I hope you’re prepared though.” 

“Should I be scared?” Christen laughs, knowing that there’s probably no way she’ll be able to keep up with Tobin or the team anyway. She was all for giving it a shot though, always being competitive and wanting to push herself to do her personal best. 

\-------

They’re on the first online training session with the team a week later. Tobin had sent out an email to all of the players and parents, stating that the training was optional but highly recommended if they want to be staying fit so they’ll remain in the varsity team and be prepared for the season once they return back to school - whenever that will be. 

The majority of the girls joined the call, apart from one who’s currently injured and was given a separate training programme by Tobin, and another two that never got back to her after she sent their parents a text. 

“I’m not joking, that took me way too long to figure out.” Tobin laughs as soon as she manages to get onto the call. She’d been trying to work the app for close to five minutes now, only just figuring out how to access the video call from her laptop. 

Taylor, the jokester of the team, is quick to chip in. “You’re getting too old, Tobin.” 

“Must be hard when you’re nearly a granny.” Maya adds with a chuckle, making Tobin roll her eyes and laugh.

“I’m old, but not  _ that  _ old, thank you very much.”

Maddie laughs at the group, “Whatever you say, coach.”

Bailey, Abby and Ellie join at that time too, making the group of fourteen girls that Tobin expected to join complete. 

“How are you guys? How are you holding up?” Tobin wonders, “I know we’re here to train but I wanted to make sure everything is alright too. You know that if any of you ever need anything, you can just email me at any time, no matter what it’s about or for. It’s very weird and uncertain times at the moment, especially for the seniors on the team, and I know it can get a bit lonely as you’ll get lost in your own heads, but make sure you’re giving yourself time to relax too.”   
  


The team nods, a mixture of responses coming through the speaker, with them saying they’re fine or a little stressed from the pressure of adjusting to online school. 

“Don’t stress it too much, Freya.” Tobin tells one of the younger players on the team, “Just do what you can and make sure you’re giving yourself breaks throughout the day. We’re all still trying to figure this whole ‘online teaching’ thing out too so the teachers will understand if you can’t complete the work right away.” 

“What have you been doing for the past two weeks? I need to find new ways of entertainment or being productive, so please hit me with random ideas.” Tobin continues.

“Is it bad if I say that I’ve mainly been watching movies so far?” Abby asks with a chuckle. 

“Me too.” Ellie nods.

“What about you, Tobin?” Faith asks their coach.

“I’ve mostly been doing work or in online meetings to organize everything.” Tobin thinks back on the past few days, realizing that they haven’t been that exciting either. “Oh actually, I started watching Grey’s Anatomy.” 

“You finally started watching Grey’s?” Taylor almost squeals through the screen. 

“Well, when I say that I started watching it, I mean more like binge watching. We finished the whole show in about ten days.” She cringes slightly, pulling a face.

“I did tell you it was good.” Taylor laughed, having tried to convince Tobin to watch it for months now, after she found out that Tobin had never even heard of it. “I wasn’t joking when I said that once you start watching it, you won’t be able to stop.”

“I also started napping, way too much.” Tobin adds, “I’ll be working one minute and the next I’ll wake up two hours later. Maybe I really should start working at a table.” 

The thing is she would have started doing that days ago, but every time when she’s working close to Christen or has the younger girl tucked into her side, she knows that there’s no way she’s moving. 

And when they both fall asleep in each other's arms, she thinks she might just be alright with doing online school until she retires.

They talk for a little longer, each of the girls telling Tobin about their families and some funny stories of what arguments they’d gotten into in quarantine so far. 

“Are you quarantined by yourself?” Josie asks after they’d wrapped up one of the stories, concerned that her coach would get too lonely by herself. 

Tobin shakes her head, “Nope, luckily not.” 

Josie just nods with a shy smile, not wanting Tobin to feel like she was invading her private life too much. 

“Anyway, we should probably get started.” Tobin says as she moves her computer across the floor and stands up. 

The girls all move their screens so they’re prepared. 

“Well,  _ someone  _ wanted to join in today but I have no clue where she has disappeared to.” Tobin laughs as she checks her watch to see how much time they have left. 

She picks her phone and sends Christen a quick text to see if she is ready to join in. Tobin had moved the couch slightly to make space for herself on the living room floor without accidentally breaking anything throughout. Christen had left to get changed just before Tobin started the call, but had yet to return so Tobin assumed she started doing some work in their study upstairs when she heard that Tobin was still having a conversation with the team.

When Christen hadn’t replied by the time she was ready to start, she called her name from downstairs. “Chris?” 

She gets no reply so she calls her name again, hearing Christen shout that she was on her way. 

“Sorry,” Christen mouths as she walks down the stairs, walking over to her yoga mat that was already laid out. 

“Hey girls,” Christen waves politely once she’s on the screen. 

She’s been teaching all of the soccer team since she started working at Mira Costa and would coach the soccer team more often than not before Tobin joined them, so she knew most of the players relatively well. They’d only trained once a week prior to Tobin and wouldn’t play many games due to the lack of coaching available. Christen was the only PE staff member that had experience in soccer, but her workload often stopped her from having time to put more effort towards the potential of the team. 

“Miss Press,” Bailey cheers out, throwing her arms up. 

Faith waves at her, “Hey, Miss Press.” 

“She insisted on joining so I hope you’re ready.” Tobin laughs, nudging Christen’s shoulder and reaching for her bottle of water. 

“Social distancing at its finest.” Taylor mumbles, clearly teasing but making sure it’s loud enough for Tobin to hear. She’d grown to really like Tobin over the past months and had definitely picked up on the pairs not-so-subtle interactions. 

Tobin rolls her eyes, “We live together, Taylor.”

“Oh, really?” Taylor says acting surprised, the smirk on her face easily giving her away. 

Christen laughs as Tobin blushes slightly, “Anyway,” She drags the word out, “Let’s actually get started before we don’t have time to do the full workout.” 

Christen tries to keep up - she really does - but by the start of the last set of burpees she thinks her whole body might drop out of exhaustion. She’d been doing well until that point, but she definitely wasn’t anywhere near as fit as she was four years ago when she was still playing college soccer. 

“Alright, I’m done. I’m out.” Christen falls to the floor, lying down on her back. 

Tobin finishes her reps, reaching her hand out and dragging Christen back to her feet. “Hah, no way!” Tobin insisted, “We’re nearly finished and I’ll never hear the end of it if you drop out of the workout before I do.” 

Christen drinks a sip of cold water, brushing her ponytail back with her hands and motivating herself to join back in again. 

She doesn’t think she’s ever been more happy to hear that she’d finished a workout. Christen doesn’t even try to stand up after doing the last exercise, sitting down on the floor. 

“Nice job, champ.” Tobin laughs, high-fiving Christen. 

“I think I just died.” Abby says after a moment of silence, causing everyone to laugh. 

“Me too.” Christen says, raising her hand. “I don’t know how I’m supposed to get down the stairs tomorrow.” 

“Slide down,” Emma laughs.

“You’re laughing now, but I can easily see that happening.” Christen chuckles. She gets up to stretch her legs, relaxing them and cooling down, before rolling the mat up and standing it back up in the corner. 

They move the couch back to its normal place, sitting down on it so they could be seen on the screen again. 

“Not gonna lie, I’m impressed you two kept up the whole time.” Taylor says through a fit of laughter, “Get it, I’m im- _ press _ -ed.”

Christen shakes her head with a smile. “I’ve heard that one one too many times for it to be funny, Taylor.” 

“Miss, how are we going to do PE lessons virtually?” Josie wonders after they’d all finished cooling down.

“I’m only doing them once a week just so you still get attendance for the class. We’ll just be doing a mix of theory lessons, random quizzes and any other ideas you guys come up with. I’m up for anything as long as everyone attends the hour a week.” Christen explains, “I have stacks of paperwork and other stuff to organise at the moment and I’m sure you’ll all have plenty of work from other lessons, so I didn’t want to do anything stressful.” 

Josie nods, “Yeah, that’s great, thank you. I’ve been getting so much work and I’m just trying to stay on top of it all.” 

Christen sets herself a mental reminder to mention that to Kristie in a text later, knowing her boss wouldn’t want their students getting stressed or exhausted during a time like this. The teachers were just as stressed as the students, so they most likely hadn’t realized how much work they were setting, but she thought a gentle reminder wouldn’t hurt. It was up to Kristie after all. 

“Alright, I think I’ve held you all up long enough now.” Tobin smiles, as they both wave at the screen. “Thanks for joining guys, see you at the same time on Thursday.” 

\-------

“Don’t forget we have the group FaceTime with your family today.” Christen reminds Tobin as she puts their dishes from breakfast away. 

“Do you remember at what time it is?” Tobin asks, having completely lost track of time over the past weeks. 

Christen opens up her recent text messages from Cindy, looking through the string of them. “In two hours.” She says as she checks the clock on her phone. 

Tobin nods, wanting to at least partially plan her day and have some sort of control over it. 

After their work for the day is finished, they use Tobin’s phone to join the call. 

“Hey Mom, hey Dad.” Tobin waves when they connect, Christen also waving. “Hi Jeff and Cindy.” 

“Hi, you two.” Jeff smiles, kindly. “How are you?” 

“We’re okay, Dad. Just thankful that we’re both healthy!” Tobin replies, “How are you?”

“We’re good.” Jeff confirms, “We’re so lucky to not have any houses right next door, so we can still relax and sit out the back on the beach. It’s not that much different for us, apart from not being able to simply walk into town to go shopping or eat at a restaurant.” 

“We’ve gone on a walk by the beach a few times now, but it was still really busy so we didn’t end up staying for long.” Tobin explains. “I guess that’s what you get for living at Manhattan Beach though.”

“I think they’re planning on shutting the beaches here for a while.” Christen adds.

Perry and Taylor join the call shortly after, greeting everyone.

“Where are my two best buddies?” Tobin asks almost offendedly when she sees them join the call without her nephews. 

Perry laughs, “I see how it is - you’re only here to see my kids and not me.” 

Tobin shrugs jokingly, “You’re not too bad, but they’re definitely cooler than you.”

Taylor calls his sons over, asking them to leave their toys and join their parents.

When they appear on the screen, Cindy and Jeff greet them right away. Once the boys had given them both a bright smile and shy wave, Taylor spoke up again. 

“Who’s that?” He asks, tapping on Christen and Tobin to make their screen the biggest one on the phone, allowing them to be more visible to the two young boys. 

Cole jumps up out of excitement when he sees who his father is pointing at. “Aunty Toto, Aunty Chrissy.” 

Christen and Tobin laugh, waving through the screen.

“Aunny Toto, Aunny Chrissy.” Hayden repeats, trying to copy his older brother.

Perry puts a hand over her heart, “Oh my Gosh. When did they start calling you that, Christen? That’s adorable!” 

Christen has a beaming smile on her face, “Cole said it when me and Tobin took him out for ice cream the first time you guys visited. It just kind of stuck after that and then Hayden and Ellie just caught onto it and tried copying Cole, I think.”

“Ellie calls you that too?” Cindy asks for confirmation, to which Christen nods.

“That’s so cute.” Perry gushes and Tobin squeezes Christen’s thigh.

Before they can discuss it any further, Katie and Jeffrey both join the call too.

“KATIE!” Perry calls through the phone like an excited child. 

“Good morning to you too, Per.” Katie laughs.

“Did you know that the boys and Ellie call Christen ‘Aunty Chrissy’?” She asks. 

Perry wasn’t sure what exactly had happened with Christen’s parents, but she knew that they were no longer in her life due to being unsupportive of her relationship with Tobin, and that the younger girl struggled a lot with that from time to time. 

Getting to know Christen had personally been one of her favorite things. She’d learned so much about the girl and even found herself a new yoga buddy when they were in the same household from time to time. 

Not only was Christen an amazing person and a great addition to their family, she also makes Tobin the happiest she’s ever seen her sister. Christen fits in with all of them without a hitch, almost as if she’d been part of it for years now. 

Her mother and father both adore the girl to no end as well, and within days of meeting her, Perry had felt like she’d gained another sister.

They all talk regularly and stay in touch whilst they’re in different states and timezones, having created a group chat years ago, which Christen was quickly added into.

In the handful of times that Perry had been able to see Tobin and Christen in person since they started dating, she’d always picked up right from where they left off. Christen and her went shopping together when Tobin wasn’t in the mood to tag along, they would find yoga classes to attend together which Tobin usually would refuse to do unless it was with Christen in the mornings, and the couple had offered to babysit Hayden and Cole a number of times when Perry was either busy or they felt that Perry and her husband hadn’t had enough chances to go on date nights recently. 

She truly feels like she’s gained another friend and seeing her sons and niece love the girl just as much as the rest of the family does, made her heart spark with joy. 

Perry would most likely not admit this to anyone for a long time or even ever, but the minute she heard the way Tobin spoke about her girlfriend, she had a strong feeling that Christen might just turn out to be the  _ one  _ for her sister.

“Yeah,” Katie nods with a smile, “Ellie rambles on about it every time we mention Christen or Tobin so we picked up on it.” 

“She’s going to be talking about how cute that is for the rest of the night now.” Taylor laughs, pointing at his wife.

They stay on the call for over an hour, each checking in with each other and making plans for regular calls once or twice a week. 

“How are you guys teaching from home?” James wonders, thinking about how difficult that must be.

“Chris is doing a zoom lesson once a week, mainly so the students can get their attendance in as we can’t really teach sports from home. I’m not doing any of the PE calls, so I’ve scheduled two online group training sessions a week and then I’m planning to do one quiz night or something like that per week, just to keep them all connected.” 

“I don’t recommend joining in with the workouts.” Christen exclaims, making Tobin laugh. 

“It was your idea to join in.” Tobin defends.

“I thought I was dying.” Christen continues, “I couldn’t walk at all the next day, which Tobin found way too funny because I almost fell every time I tried standing up.”

Tobin shrugs, laughing harder now that she’s thinking of it again. “It was pretty funny.” 

Christen asks Jeffrey about his training programme and Sarah about her working schedule from home, considering that Jeffrey’s line of work will be a lot harder from home - especially since they’re renting an apartment and haven’t got a house with a yard. 

They end the call a short while later. Christen is clearly lost in her thoughts from where she’s leaning into Tobin, so she runs a hand through her girlfriend’s curls, trying to soothe her a little and careful not to get her fingers tangled in them.

Christen turns her head up towards Tobin, “You know that I love you, right?”

Tobin doesn’t fail to hide her confusion from the sudden question. She’s never had a single doubt that Christen loves her so she isn’t sure why the girl would bring it up now.

“Of course I do.” Tobin nods, “Where’s this coming from?”

“Nowhere.” Christen sighs, “I just know that it must be hard for you to be away from your family right now and you’re probably missing them a lot, so I just want you to know that I love you so incredibly much.”

Tobin leans in to kiss Christen’s lips, “They’re your family now too, babe.” 

She says it so casually and certain at the same time, that it makes Christen's heart contract and her eyes well up. 

“I’ll always miss my family a little when I’m away from them,” Tobin continues, “But that’s okay. As long as I have you by my side that’s more than I could ever ask for.”

She looks Christen in the eyes again, “I love you and the life that we’re building. I wouldn’t change any of that for the world.”

“Me too.” Christen nods, “I love you, baby.” 

“How about you FaceTime your sisters and Granfran at some point? We could do a group call, I’m sure they’d all be up for it.” Tobin suggests.

Christen agrees, “That’s a good idea.”

\-------

The summer air had been hitting California even more for the past few days. 

Christen and Tobin had made it a routine during that time to sit outside on their balcony at night, watching the sun disappear behind the ocean. 

They sit together on the outdoor loveseat. Tobin’s legs are stretched out in front of her, letting Christen nuzzle into her. Her legs are resting on Tobin’s, her head tucked into Tobin’s neck as the older girl soothingly runs her hand up and down Christen’s bare back from where her shirt has ridden up. 

“Chris?” Tobin murmurs, breaking the comfortable silence they’d been in. 

“Mhm” Christen hums, asking Tobin to continue. 

Tobin lets out a deep sigh, “What if they have to make me redundant and I lose my job? I know Kristie wouldn’t choose to do that, but they might not have another option.”

Christen shakes her head, “I don’t think they would do that. You’re a big part of the staff, plus you have more than one role.”

“But what if it comes to that, Chris. No one’s first thought is going to be ‘oh let’s save the leader of extracurricular and let one of our maths teachers go instead.’ - we both know that.” She says, staying serious..

“I know, but my role could be on the line too so I don’t want you stressing about this way before you have to.” Christen says softly. 

“I just can’t stop thinking about it.” Tobin groans, “Chris, you’re one of the best teachers in the school. I can guarantee you that you’ll keep your job.” 

“And I have a good feeling that you’ll be keeping yours too, but if it comes to it, I’ll do everything I can to help you save it.” Christen runs her hand down Tobin’s side, “Just relax, baby. It’ll all work out in the end.” 

“But what if it would come to that. There’s no local schools that I can think of who’d need me.” Tobin takes a deep breath, “I can’t lose you. I love you too much to ever live without you again.” 

Christen hugs Tobin tighter, pulling their bodies even closer. “If that happens then we’d figure it out, but you aren’t going to lose me.”

Christen looks up at Tobin, seeing the tears forming in her eyes. 

“You’re okay, baby.” Christen tries to soothe her.

“I just don’t think I could move away from you, I couldn’t do it.” Tobin admits, fearing the worst happening to both of them. 

Christen shakes her head, maintaining eye contact. “That’s not going to happen, baby.  _ If  _ it does come to that, which I really don’t think it will, I’ll be right here. I’m not going anywhere.” 

“You’re my home.” Christen admits, “I’d go anywhere for you, Tobs and I promise that no matter what happens in life, you’ve always got me.”

  
  
She presses a kiss to Tobin’s jaw and continues their conversation, “There’s such a small chance of this happening and there'll be lots of teachers at a higher risk than you are. I love you and we’ll get through this, together.”

Christen sits up, resting her forehead against Tobin’s after pecking her lips. “It’s you and me, forever - I promise.” 

A tear makes its way down Tobin’s cheek, which Christen quickly catches with her thumb and wipes off. 

“I love you,” Tobin chokes out, leaning in to kiss Christen sweetly. 

\-------

Over the next few weeks they spend their time having their own date night in quarantine, baking together, learning how to cook new dishes and FaceTiming with their usual group of friends from work - made up of Zach, Julie, Servando, Alex, Kristie, Rachel and Kelley. 

Since Kelley had hopped on a plane to Washington DC before they officially went into lockdown, her girlfriend Emily joined them too. 

Christen had met Emily a few times over the two years her and Kelley had been together - usually when she was visiting Kelley in California. Their jobs currently kept them apart as Emily had a current contract there. Kelley was beaming when she told Christen about Emily’s contract ending in six months, with her getting the opportunity to transfer to one of their offices in Santa Monica instead. 

Christen was adjusting to online lessons, whilst Tobin was quickly adapting to the calls with her team. She’d even gone as far as getting Jeffrey and Rachel to join one of their calls so the team could ask them questions and get to know them. 

They’d also had a chance to call Ali and Ashlyn, catching up with them and inviting Kelley to join the call too. 

Once a week Christen and Tobin would go out grocery shopping, taking it in turns. They tended to go out early, avoiding the bigger crowds and having a large supply in the stores so they can get everything they need for the following week. 

Tobin was out on the weekly shopping trip when Christen’s phone rang. She checked the caller ID to see that it was Perry. 

“Hey,” Christen smiled, picking up the phone and answering FaceTime. 

“Hey Chris.” She smiles brightly in return.

Christen feels a rush of uncertainty all of the sudden, maybe due to the fact that Tobin wasn’t home. “Tobin’s just out grocery shopping, do you want me to call back later when she’s home again?” 

“Nonsense,” Perry shakes her head, “The kids are just down so I wanted to check in with you guys, I don’t mind if Tobin’s there or not.”

“Okay,” Christen nods, “How have my two favorite nephews been?” She asks easily, knowing Perry would dive right into one of her newest funny stories of the pair.

By the end of the story, Christen and Perry were both crying of laughter, tears running down their face. 

“Where’s Taylor?” Christen asks when she realizes that it’s only Perry in the room. 

“Oh, he went out on a run.” Perry tells her, “We’ve been driving each other up the walls by going from seeing each other twelve hours a day to twenty-four, so we both spend one or two hours by ourselves each day.” 

Christen nods with a smile, “At least you have the little ones to keep you entertained.”

“How are you and Tobs? Have you had many arguments yet?” Perry wonders light-heartedly. 

“Not really,” Christen shakes her head, “I think we’ve bickered about something silly twice now, but we usually just end up laughing when we both forget what it was about in the first place. We don’t really argue all that much and we’re used to working together too.” 

Perry nods, “Yeah, that’s true. I can imagine you both being too calm and chill to actually fight.” She laughs, thinking about how patient Christen is and how relaxed Tobin always is, simply going with the flow or whatever others want to do. 

“Oh, we’ve argued before.” Christen tells her, “I don’t know how much Tobin ever told you about this or if she even mentioned it at all, but we had a really bad argument a few months after we started dating. We must have been together about five or six months by then and we didn’t speak a single word for nearly a week. It was heartbreaking and mostly just a miscommunication, which I’ll definitely take most of the blame for. That was really hard for both of us and we both made mistakes there, but we spoke about it in the end and talked it all out which really helped. 

Perry gives Christen a sad smile, “I remember Tobin mentioning something but she never told me much about it.”

Christen nods, “I think that taught us a lot and we’ve become more sensitive about each other’s feelings since then. I definitely said things I shouldn’t have and I’ll be the first person to admit that, but it’s in the past now so we try not to think about it.” 

“I think it was important for us to have something like that early on though. Now we tend to talk about things before they become a problem or we have anything to argue about, so I think that’s probably why we rarely fight. We just make sure to be honest with each other all the time and openly discuss anything that’s bothering either of us.”

Perry smiles at her, “Yeah, me and Taylor struggled with that a lot when we first started dating. We’d shut each other out and hide things from each other, so we used to have a really rocky relationship. It usually wasn’t even anything bad, but just little things where we feared judgement just because it was still in the early stages of us as a couple.” 

“It can be hard.” Christen nods. 

“I think you and Tobin have this whole ‘love’ thing figured out better than any of us do.” Perry laughs, recognising the way Christen’s eyes light up every time they talk about Tobin. 

Christen laughs, shaking her head. “I don’t think anyone ever has it figured out. We’re just trying to take things day by day.” 

“You really love her, huh?” Perry smiles at her softly. 

Christen smiles back, her heart contracting in awe when she thinks of her girlfriend. “Yeah,” Christen almost whispers, “I do, so much.” 

“I’m really glad that Tobin has you, Chris.” Perry tells the younger girl, “I’ve never seen her this happy before and she loves you so much, it’s crazy.”

“She’s amazing,” Christen shakes her head in disbelief, “I don’t know what I ever did to deserve her.” 

“You’re amazing too, don’t forget that.” Perry admits, “We all love having you in our family.” 

“I love you all too.” Christen smiles, “The Heath family is pretty great incase you didn’t know.” 

Perry winks at her, “Oh, trust me...I know!” 

They talk for a little longer before Hayden wakes up again, so Perry and Christen say their goodbyes and hang up. 

Christen sighs and leans back in her chair, knowing that this will definitely be a conversation she’ll keep for herself. Maybe she’ll tell Tobin about it one day, or maybe she’ll just keep it in her heart forever. 

She gets up with a smile, walking back to the living room to get her laptop and continue what she was doing earlier. 

As she walks in, she can’t help but stall when she passes one of the pictures hanging on the wall. She looks at it closer than she thinks she ever has before. 

It’s a picture of Christen and Tobin at the beach. They’d got Ashlyn to take it when they went surfing one Sunday, whilst Kelley and Ali went to collect some takeaway from one of the local food trucks. 

They’re huddled together closely in the sand, a towel wrapped around their shoulders as Christen is leaning into Tobin, resting her head on the older girls’ shoulder. 

They both have the brightest smiles on their faces, probably laughing at something stupid that Ashlyn said before taking the picture. They look happy, and thinking about that day, that moment - or any moment with Tobin for that matter - makes her bite her lip to stop her smile from spreading too wide. 

  
_ She’s the love of my life.  _ Christen thinks as she strays her eyes away from the picture and walks away again. She’s realized this many times over the past months, heck they’d even spoke about it before, but every time it seems to become clearer and clearer.  _ I never want to spend another day without Tobin in my life.  _

**Author's Note:**

> I'm having a massive writers block for the next chapter of the original storyline, so have this whilst I try and finish the next chapter. Please comment any feedback or one-shot ideas you have for this universe :)  
> -  
> I'll probably rename this work at some point, but I've had a migraine for days now and couldn't come up with anything better lol. (If you have ideas, please send me them on Tumblr - my creativity is running out big time.)  
> -  
> Tumblr : PressPack


End file.
